Gun mounting system for turrets



June 12, 1945- J. A. vAuGHAN 2,378,050

` GUN MOUNTING vSYSTEM FOR TURRETS Filed oct. 2, 1942 3&5 l@

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ATTORNEY' lgunnen Patented June 12, 1945 VGrUN MOUNTING"SYSTEMFORTTURETSV John A. Vaughan, Hempstead, ,N. Y., assig'noryby;` mesne assignments,to The W. kI... MaxAson,Gorporation, lNew York, N. Y., .a corporationof.

New l'York Applicatie Geister 2, 1942.,"ser1a1rNa.460.4911

40mm.. (C1. ssi-37) Thisin'ven'ton relates to gunmountin'gs vandparticularly to a mounting -system suitable -for use inantnaircraft-gunturrets.

yWhen -ring'at hostile aircraft the gunner-must be able to shift' thegun rapidly and-accurately inl bothhorizontal and vertical-directionsand must move'his head vaccordingly 'in ordery to re vmain `at alltimesv in proper sightingposition.

Thisoperation frequently requires considerable gun is swung to follow aplane flying overthe 'Ihese'contortions increase the diniculty'ofaccurate Iire.

`A generalpurpose of the inventionistoipro- Vide-ag'un mounting in whichthe gunner 'can 1 shiftw the-` gun rapidly and accurately' in any'direction' above the 'horizontal' and" maintain his head lin" properaiming 'relationship to the "gun 'without-'requiring 'himtojmove"exceptfcra'rock- 'within the-natural' and comfortable range ofsuch head'moven'ient This purpose is in general a""horiz'ontal 'as wellas a vertical axis, thereby i permitting funiversal movement of thegun', and

supporting thegunner so that thev upper end of -hisspine.'which forms ap'ivotion which his" head rocks-I is located 'substantially on said'horizontal aXisoff-gun movement. By rotatingjboth'the "'gnner'andlthe'gun about the .the'vertical axis,

asf ips-'usual in 'gun turret'operation,`the gunner can "maintain his Ksighting` eye in alignment .with

"ftlie'g'un sights at all times simply by rocking his lieadbackward orforward about its .pivot asth'e gun is elevated or depressed. l

' ','Another' purpose of'the invention is'to locate fand'supportthe'gunner so' thathe can comfortab'ly'and conveniently rockrhis head'vertically Athrough at least'the angl'eof 90 between horizontaland vertical gun positions. Since the Vmythe gunner.'

.-The; last mentioned. purposeA is in general lacl `complishedlay-,providing a seat in whichlthegun.-

' comfortable"limitsfaboutits'lspinal pivot. A-seat inclinedat-'about45f"has`beenvfound to `be suitingmovem'ent of his'head backward'orforwardfzo ner .reclnes at .anangle to gtheJhorizontalfwhich 55 permitshim` =to"f look directlyx upward For horizontally-forward*without-transverse@sluiting` "of or strain on the-neck, :the-head lbe'inglrocked Within able forthis purpose.

Avv further object oftheinvention is yto provide an inclined seat ofthe''indicated type Which-is suitableY for supporting men lof "different'proportions "comfortably with their heads 'located accurately in' 'theproper position' above indicated.

This is Vin generalaccomplished icy-'forming the seat of a strip -oflongitudinally flexible lmaterial constituting Aboth the' backandthe-bottom of "the seat an'dfsupported atits` ends. :With kthistypeof seatagunner'can locate hishead in propergun' sighting position byAadjusting himself longitudinally/on the seat, and will thenbe supportedcomfortably'in such position. Moreover, a seatlof thisf'type allowsgreatfreedom of movement' under `emergency "conditions Further objects' andadvantages ,will appear from the folloiawing descriptionconsidered inconnection with' the accompanying"drawing'in'which Fig. 1 is avdiagrammatic,side elevation of a gun' mounting, 'including yth'e Yturret vsupport and operators seat, with vparts .brokenaway'," showingthe gun in horizontal position;

Fig.2vis a similarv View with thergun in vertical position; and

l`Fig. isafragmentary sectionvon line 3-'3 of Fig. .1 showingthemountingjof the vgun trunnion. l

The: invention is.Y illustrated 'in its application to agunturretpfrtheltypein Whichuthe gun is mounted for vertical movement7 thecombination of such movement with` the required rotation of theturretserving vvto aim the gun at any desired .forthegunnen-indicatedlgenerally at I4, and

one or more guns l5, which may be machine .guns oncannon. A narrangement suitable forthe use A,oiguns-oneitherside of vtheygunner isshown, eachxgunor groupof guns: beingsupportedV by` brackets I6A andpivotally-rnounted.Withinla `trunnionirame l1 4onfplatform ily-so`thateach gun I5-is rotatable about a horizontal y. axis `passingythrough the.fcranialfpivot `ISI-of4 al-gunner 22 .-in

seat a I 4,-',.said'pivot'being5 located fin the. articula- Varioustypes of trunnion construction may be employed. In the form shown thebrackets I6 are attached to a trunnion member such as metal disk 23movable on ball bearings 23a along a. circular track 24 carried by frameI1. Connected to disk 23 is the sighting device 25 of any desired typeextending into alignment with the eyes of the gunner 22 and movable withthe guns I5.

It will be understood that a corresponding gun support may be located onthe near side of the gunner, so that he can operate a plurality of gunssimultaneously, in accordance with well known turret construction,-thenear gun mount being broken away in the interest of clearness.

The trunnion disk 23 and'turret platform II may be rotated in anydesired manner, either manually or by electric drives of known types,which therefore are not illustrated, a reversible electric drive motorv26 mounted on frame II and geared to a drive sector 21 attached to disk23 being illustrated as representative of one type of electrical gunelevating means. These controls, as well as the firing button for theguns,

are ordinarily operated from one or more control handles 28 carried bybracket 29 extending from platform II into convenient position foroperation by the gunner 22.

In order to permit the gunner 22 to tilt his head vertically about itspivot I9 between horizontal sighting position as shown in Fig. 1 andvertical sighting position illustrated in Fig. 2, without the strain anddifficulty in maintaining head alignment with the sights that resultsfrom tilting the head backward to an excessive extent, the seat I4 islocated and arranged so that the operators back is inclined to thehorizontal sufficiently to bring the vertical firing position of hishead within the range of easy backward movement of the head about itspivot I9. Since the operators head can readily be tilted forwardcomfortably from this position into horizontal firing position shown inFig. l, this arrangement prevents any tendency for the operator to shifthis neck relative to the trunnion axis I8, a tendency that would have tobe counteracted by muscular eiIort on the part of theV gunner, resultingin strain andless effective sighting under emergency conditions.

In the form illustrated seat I4 comprises a strip 30 of longitudinallyflexible material, such as cloth, which will accommodate itself to thebody of the gunner 22, the strip extending across the body of the userbut advantageously limited in width to the width of the gunners trunk,leaving his arms free to move backward beyond the side margins of theseat. "The ends of the strip extend around and are fixed as by rivets toupper cross bar 3| located behind the shoulders or upper back of thegunner 22 and attached to frame I1 by a bracket 32 at each end, andlower cross bar 33' located under the knees of the gunner and supportedat each end by a bracket 34 on platform I I. A foot support bar 35mounted at each end on a bracket 36 flxed' to platform II may also beprovided.

By providing a ilexible support 30 for the gunner 22 he is enabled toadjust himself lengthwise in seat I4 to bring his head pivot I9 intoaccurate alignment with the gun mounting axis I8, a construction whichpermits gunners of various dimensions to position themselves properly inthe indicated manner. However, means for adjusting the seat I4 to takecare of variations in the sizes of gunners beyond those which can beaccommodated by shiftingfin theV seat may be provided. In the formillustrated this may be accomplished by mounting the lower cross bar 33at each end on an eccentric pivot 31 extending through bracket 34, andclamping the bar 33 in adjusted position by means of a clamping nut 38threaded on an extension of each pivot 31, after the bar 33 has beenrotated to adjust the length of strip 30 between bars 3| and 33 to thedimensions of particular gunners.

In operating the illustrated type of gun turret the gunner 22 can rotatethe turret platform II and trunnion members 23 manually or bymanipulation of control handle 26, whereby the gun I5 may be pointed inany direction about the horizontal; and the gunners sighting eye can bemaintained in perfect alignment with the sighting device 25 simply bycomfortable vertical rocking movements of the gunners head.

The references to horizontal and vertical positions in the specificationand claims are not intended as.k limitations, since the positions of theparts thus described will necessarily vary when they are used on anairplane in night; but such description is intended simply to designatethe relative position of the various parts.

I have described what I believe to be the best embodiments of myinvention. I do not wish, however, to be coniined to the embodimentsshown, but what I desire to cover by Letters Patent is set forth in theappended claims.

I claim:

1. In combination, a gun turret revoluble about a vertical axis, gunmounting means on the turret defining a horizontal pivotal gun axis infixed relation to the turret, and a stable, supporting hammock for thegunner mounted on the turret, in which gunners of dierent sizes maycomfortably and stably place themselves lengthwise of the hammock indifferent semi-reclining positions, respectively, according to theirpersonal requirements, so that the cranial pivot 0f the gunner in eachinstance will substantially coincide with said dened horizontal pivotalgun axis.

2. In combination, a gun turret revoluble about a vertical axis, gunmounting means 0n the turret defining a horizontal pivotal gun axis inxed relation to the turret, and a hammocklike support for lthe gunnermounted on the turret, comprising widely spaced, end supports rigidlyainxed to `the turret and a broad flexible web connected between thesupports and having considerably greater length than the distancebetween the points at which it is connected to the supports, in whichgunners of different sizes may comfortably and stably place themselvesin different semi-reclining positions, respectively, according to -theirpersonal requirements, so that the cranial pivot of the gunner in eachinstance will substantially coincide with the dened horizontal pivotalgun axis.

3. In combination, a gun turret revoluble about a vertical axis, gunmounting means on the turret deiining a horizontal pivotal gun axis infixed relation to the turret, and a stable. hammock-like support for thegunner mounted on the turret, comprising widely spaced, end supportsrigidly affixed to the .turret and a broad flexible web connectedbetween the supports and having considerably greater length than thedistance between the points at which it is connected ing to theirpersonal requirements, so that the cranial pivot of the gunnerin eachinstance .will

substantially coincide with said defined horizontal pivotal gun axis,one of said end supports for the flexible web being located adjacent thegun axis and substantially higher than the other end support, tofacilitate the gunners assuming an attitude in which his. trunk isinclined at an angle of the order of 45.

4. In combination, a gun turret revoluble about a vertical axis, gunmounting means on the .turret defining a horizontal pivotal gun axis infixed relation to the turret, a stable, hammocklike support for thegunner mounted on the turret, comprising widely spaced, end supportsrigidly affixed to the turret and a broad flexible web connected betweenthe supports and having considerably greater length than the distancebetween the points at which it is connected tothe supports, in whichgunners of different sizes may comfortably and stably place themselvesin different positions, respectively, according to their personalrequirements, so that the cranial pivot of the gunner in each instancewill substantially coincide with said defined horizontal pivotal gunaxis, one of said fend supports for the flexible web being locatedadjacent the gun axis and l0 substantially higher :than the other endsupport,

to facilitate the gunners assuming an attitude in which his trunk isinclined at an angle of the order of 45, and means for adjusting one ofthe end supports to adapt the gunners support for 15 gunners ofdifferent size ranges.

JOHN A. V'UGI-IAN.

